


Lupine Latté

by whatisupdog



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Swearing, Very Very Loose Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 03:34:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18563074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatisupdog/pseuds/whatisupdog
Summary: It's not every day that you see your life-long rival, the great and esteemed Lord O'Donnell working as a barista in a café.(Extremely loose canon and a lot of stuff made up, ages based off of 64. Post Aparoid Invasion. Fox POV.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, there. I'm not much of a fic writer, but I am a sucker for this ship. I write every now and then in my off-time, and recently I decided to finally finish writing this weird semi-canon semi-AU coffee scenario I thought up about a year and a half ago. I figured it'd be a waste to not post it, so to all the other Fox/Wolf fans out there, this one's for you. ;)

It feels like a hot ball of plasma rising from your stomach, all the way up your spine, and to the front of your face, seeing someone from the past who’s wronged you. A professor who gave you a bad grade, an ex that cheated on you, maybe a broken relationship with a family member. Sometimes it’s just some person who said the wrong thing at the wrong time, and you’ve never let them live that down. Sometimes it’s a space mercenary who’s tried to murder you multiple times, working as a barista at a coffee shop you used to frequent. That feeling pushes its way up through your throat, and it’s very difficult to hold back.

“Wolf!” I growled, rolling up my sleeves, walking up to the cash register. His ears seemed to perk up, and he smirks, making his way over towards the register as well. That stupid fucking smile he puts on is the tipping point.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the esteemed Fox McCloud.” Wolf O’Donnell chuckles, leaning against the counter. His face is inches from mine, and I have to back away. “What can I do for you?” he says with a customer service tone.

“Don’t give me any of your shit, Wolf. What the hell are you doing here, and what do you want from me?” I say, gritting my teeth.

“Whoa, there, pup.” he says condescendingly. The word ‘pup’ makes me cringe. “The entire universe doesn’t revolve around you, believe it or not, savior of the Lylat System. I work here. Are you gonna order something, or what?”

The wolf is wearing a uniform; a black hat with “Undergrind” sewed on, a light beige T-Shirt underneath a dark brown apron, with a name badge that clearly says “Wolf” on it. He can’t possibly be working at a coffee shop, though. The great criminal, Wolf O’Donnell, working at The Undergrind? Not likely in the slightest.

“I don’t know how you managed to track me down, but I deal with enough crap besides you in my every day life. If you could kindly fuck off, that would be great.” I sigh, crossing my arms. He seems to be enjoying my frustration. It takes everything I have to not punch his smug face. Wolf lets out a sigh, and puts his hands up.

“Ya got me. I, Wolf O’Donnell, bad boy of the galaxy, have stalked you for countless hours to find out what hole in the wall café you come to every time you need a cup, and then threatened the café owners to hire me so that I could make your entire life a living hell.” Wolf says with drama in his voice, clearly attempting to piss me off. It was working. He gave me a sly smile that angered me to no end. “Either that, or I’m doing public service as punishment for my crimes. Did you not follow my hearings at all?” he asked. I shake my head.

“No, I didn’t. I’m not exactly keen on knowing my enemies’ lives.” I reply. He seems to frown with disappointment for a moment, but it’s a split second. “Besides, we both know that you’ve only kept a good track record so you can go bad again. Shoot me down, maybe. I wouldn’t be shocked if you had a blaster on you right now.”

“Believe it or not, Fox, civilians can’t be holding weapons while they work. Not that you would know. Look around you. You’re the only thing that’s hostile in here.” Wolf sighed, gesturing the rest of the shop. I looked around, and admittedly, everyone seemed to be staring at me, with one hand on my blaster. I take my hand off of it, and take a couple of deep breaths.

“Uh… Sorry. Just carry on with whatever you were doing.” I say sheepishly to the rest of the café. They give me a quizzed look, but they continue going back to whatever they were doing. The manager, Clay, a German Shepherd, walks out and sees me.

“Fox McCloud, it’s always a pleasure to see you here.” he says with a smile, extending a hand. Wolf sticks his tongue out at me, but I have to maintain my composure. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve caused a scene in a café over something stupid. I shake his hand, and force a smile.

“Hey, Clay.” I reply. “So… Hiring convicts now, are we?” I ask, gesturing to Wolf. Wolf waves with a grin. God, he’s annoying.

“Fox, I know this is unorthodox, but he was assigned to us by the government as part of his public service requirement. I heard a commotion out here and assumed something was going on, and I see what’s happening, but let me make one thing clear; Wolf here has no intentions of harming anyone. Besides, he’s been one of the best employees I’ve had in a while.” Clay explains in a calm, and collected tone. He’s talking about Wolf in such a positive light. Something that I’ve never really thought possible. “He normally works night shifts. He’s just picking up a shift for someone who couldn’t make it today. You won’t see him around much.”

I scoff.

“Look, I know Wolf, and it’s just-” I start, when Wolf interrupts me.

“Do you, though, Fox? You know my dreams? My aspirations? My favorite color?” he starts asking, clearly trying to push some buttons with me. Clay shoots him a glare, and he stops. “Fox, I just want to serve my time. So would you like some coffee? If not, there’s someone waiting behind you.” he says, going back into his customer service mode. Clay smiles, and he gives me a nod before walking back to the back room. I look back at Wolf, and he’s wearing a smile, albeit, a very fake one that he probably has to put on for everyone else. It’s actually kind of funny to see him like this. I can’t help but smirk, seeing one of my longest standing rivals being lowered to a position like barista.

“…Yeah. Get me a cup of the house blend, two sugars and a bit of cream.” I tell him. He nods, and writes the order down on a notepad. Getting to order him around was oddly satisfying. I pull out my card and hand it to him, but he refuses it.

“Can’t let you do that, Star Fox.” he says in that shit-eating tone of his, reminding me of all of the times that his team had flown in to stop mine from doing its job at all costs. “I got you covered. Maybe next time you see me in here, you won’t flip out and threaten to shoot me.” he chuckles. I can feel heat rising to my face, and I raise my hands to keep them away from my blaster. “I’ll call out your name once it’s ready. For here, or to go?”

“…To go.” I sigh, feeling a bit defeated. He doesn’t seem to be letting any of this get to him. He almost seems happy to serve me. What the hell happened to this guy? He nods, and then pockets the slip. He gives me a slight wave, signaling me to go wait for the coffee elsewhere so he can take the person’s order behind me. I awkwardly step over to a table, keeping him in my sights.

That hot ball of plasma never really got to escape. It just kind of stayed in my face, dying down. It then got replaced by something entirely different. A wave of embarrassment. Another flash of heat burns through my cheeks, and I realize the scene I’ve just caused inside this café that I actually enjoy going to. 

I haven’t been able to come to the Undergrind in a few months. I usually get swamped in work, missions, or publicity events. Things have died down recently, so I thought I’d visit. The Undergrind has been one of the better cafés I’ve discovered in Corneria; much more underground, with a good brew to boot. The walls were lined with brick, there was a piano sitting on a small wooden stage for nights where local jazz cats would be playing. I’d known Clay for a while, all the way back from high school. He’d told me about his dream of opening a café where anyone could come in, have a cup, and just relax. A good vibes sort of thing. There were a lot of regulars, and those who happened to walk in usually left with a good feeling. The fact that one of my worst enemies is working here now just sits really poorly with me. The fact that he looks so calm and focused while doing it makes me feel even worse.

I watch Wolf while he makes the coffee. He has that look of concentration on him that I remember seeing on the Arwing intercoms, the kind of look he gets when he’s about to land a shot on one of us. How his eye squints, zeroing in on whatever he needs to hit. The way his teeth are slightly bared. It’s sickening, almost. He furrows his brow, pouring sugar into my coffee. I half expect him to spit in it, but instead, he pours cream into the cup. It’s hard to admit, but he looked like a trained barista. He glances over at me, and gives me a wink along with a slight grin that stirs something inside of me, much less fury as it was annoyance. Wolf raises a claw and gestures me over. Sighing, I get up and walk over to him.

“There’s your coffee.” he says, gesturing it to me. Looking down, I see that he’s made a heart pattern in the cup with the cream, almost perfectly. It’s actually kind of impressive. I look back up at him, and he’s grinning, holding back laughter. Any respect I held for him is now gone.

“Yeah, funny.” I grunt, picking it up and taking a sip, expecting something awful. It glides down smooth, like a tenor sax solo on a ballad. The bitter mixes with the sweet, dancing as it goes, pulling me in for another sip. It’s… It’s good. Better than what I normally get.

“Well, McCloud?” he asks, waiting for my response. I have to pull myself out of my coffee to respond.

“It’s alright.” I say. He smirks, and nods. For some reason, I feel like he can see straight into my soul with that piercing violet eye. He knows I enjoyed those sips. Seemingly satisfied, he breaks eye contact and goes back to the register.

“See ya later, Fox.” he grunts, turning his head towards me. His face is wearing a strange, tired expression. It’s calm, collected, with the slightest of smiles. Mysterious to no end. It suddenly hits me, how different he is outside of war. Outside of a fight. I actually don’t know this man. I don’t know who he is at all.


	2. Chapter 2

My entire interaction with Wolf was a messy dogfight of social interactions, and he clearly beat me, which annoyed me to no end. I was barely able to sleep that night; I was too busy staring at the ceiling, replaying those five minutes over and over again in my head. Thinking of ways I could’ve properly responded, how I could’ve dealt with his sassy remarks. I may be the better pilot, but he definitely thinks quicker on his feet in conversation.

The next morning, I wake up with barely any sleep in me at all. I have a meeting later that day concerning the loan my dad took out for the Great Fox, but I knew that I’d fall asleep the moment I got in it. So... I did what any normal person would do.

I grabbed coffee. Wolf worked the night shift, so there was no way I was going to see him during the day. The Undergrind was on the way to the building, anyways.

The Undergrind is pretty calm that morning, with some calming bossa nova playing in the background. I grabbed my coffee, a single latte, and headed over to the small couch where I normally sat to drink. When I get there, I see none other than the man himself. I quickly turn around to find another seat, but I hear his voice call for me.

“Fox!” Wolf calls, and I take a deep breath before turning around to face him. He’s got a monocle on his good eye, and a book in his hand. I almost burst out laughing, but I hold it in, letting out a small puff of air.

“You wear a monocle?” I ask, unable to prevent a small chuckle from getting out. He shrugs, and holds his book up.

“Why pay for two lenses when you only have one working eye?” he says with a slightly playful tone. “Besides, I’m a man of class.”

“Yeah, sure, call it that.” I mumble.

“Hey, listen. Do you want to sit down and talk for a moment?” he says, making room on the couch. My first instinct is to turn around and run.

“Um... not really?” I say, somewhat confused by the question. He places his book down and looks at me through his monocle.

“Look, I just want to talk. No fighting, no guns, neither of us are in a ship. Just me in my jeans and button up, and you in your...” he says, trailing off. He’s looking me up and down, and I feel strangely vulnerable in my white polo and dark green shorts. “What, summer outfit?”

“Big deal, Fox McCloud wears normal clothes. What’s it to you?” I respond, somewhat agitated.

“Yeah, normal clothes a size down maybe. Don’t flex too hard, you might rip your shirt off.” he chuckles.

“Alright, bye, Wolf.” I say, ready to leave.

“I’m joking with you, Fox.” Wolf says, clearly trying to stop me. “Look, I’ll drop it. Let’s just... talk, alright?” he continues, leaning forward somewhat. I sigh, and place my coffee on the table, pulling up a nearby chair.

“Okay, what do you want?” I ask, suspicious of everything that’s about to come out of his mouth. He leans back, and takes his monocle off. Wolf takes a deep breath, and lets it out through his mouth; I can smell the coffee lingering in it.

“Nothing. I just wanted to know how you were doing.” he says with a soft smile on his face. I immediately lean backwards, and he notices. “Jumpy, aren’t ya?”

“I don’t trust that look on your face.” I say, very clearly. He sighs, and gives me a scowl; something I’m more used to. I instinctively clench my fists. He quickly replaces his scowl with a smirk, something I’ve still seen before, but for some reason, irritates me more.

“Those faces better for you?” he says, chuckling, letting his face relax back to its earlier demeanor. I scoff, and take a sip of my coffee.

“Weird seeing it in person, instead of on a screen.” I say, disgruntled. He shrugs, and takes another sip of his coffee. “Then again, nothing’s weirder than seeing you so... normal.” I continue, staring at him. He looks at me with some contemplation, and nods.

“I was thinking about the other day, when you almost shot me for making you coffee.” Wolf says, causing me to blush fiercely.

“Hey, look, that was-“

“I get it, alright? You’re not the only guy who has reasons to not trust me. The court hearings proved that enough.” he sighs, looking at me with a slightly knowing grin. “I forgive you for that. I want you to know that I don’t have anything out for you, alright?”

“Sure, Wolf. And my dad’s alive, and he wants you over for dinner tonight.” I say, and any grin on his face is immediately wiped off. “Or do you not remember taunting me with my dead father in dogfights?”

The look on his face is indescribable. He avoids eye contact with me, staring at the ground, but he seems frustrated, gripping his knees with his claws.

“...I didn’t kill him, if you’re wondering.” he says quietly, still staring at his coffee. He picks it up, and takes a small sip. He looks back at me with a contemplative stare, accompanied with a hint of guilt. “Sorry about... doing that. I’ve thought a lot about the way I treated you during the war, and... it wasn’t good.”

He looks genuine, and it’s a look that I have to turn away from, out of fear that I might actually believe him.

“Sure.” I say, passively. I can hear him slouch back into his seat, and sigh. I look at my watch, and see that I’ve got about ten minutes til the meeting starts. “Look, I’ve got a meeting in ten. I’m gonna go.” I sigh, feeling weirder than ever.

“Wait, Fox.” he says as I get up.

“What?” I ask, clearly wanting to already be out the door.

“Do you want me to transfer elsewhere? I can talk to some people and get placed somewhere else for community service.” he asks, looking me straight in the eye. It’s a piercing gaze, one that makes me sit back down. “It’s pretty clear that you still have some... tension with me, and if you don’t want to see me around here, that’s fine.”

I can’t help but remember that the Wolf I was staring at was the same one that, not too long ago, had a bounty on my head. A bitter rival, who tried to shoot me down out of the skies.

“...Who are you?” I ask, squinting in the hopes that I’d see someone else.

“Someone who... clearly has made more than a few mistakes, and wants to do something about them.” he says, looking straight at me. For a moment, I stare into his violet eye, and see a genuine soul coming from him that I’ve never seen before. “Just let me know, and I’ll find different work.”

“...You make good coffee. It’d be a waste if you left the only coffee place I like.” I say reluctantly, avoiding eye contact but sipping from my cup. I can hear the slightest of hums come from his direction, but I pay it no mind.

Wolf’s phone buzzes on the table, and I glance over. It’s a text from a number he hasn’t saved in his phone. Wolf picks his phone up, checks the notification, and gets up.

“Well, this has been just great, but I also have to go.” Wolf grunts, stretching. As his T-Shirt lifted slightly, I could see that he had a bit of a gut, but not too much. I don’t know why, but I was expecting a six pack, but I’ve really only seen him flying. I take another sip of my coffee, watching the way he rolls his head on his neck.

“Gonna go blow up an orphanage?” I ask with a slight chuckle. He seems unimpressed, but he gives me a smirk.

“Yeah.” he says, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I give him a weird eye. I think that was a joke, but I can’t be certain. He seems to notice this, and sighs. “I was joking, pup.”

“Don’t call me pup.” I respond, irritated. “What are you actually gonna do?” He puts on his jacket, and pockets his phone, then turns to me.

“I’ve got a date.” he says confidently. I can’t help but laugh. I know that Wolf’s attracted quite the following with women, with his bad boy persona, but can only imagine what would happen when they got to meet the big bad Wolf in all of his glory. “Yuk it up all you want, Fox, but a man has needs.” he says, walking away.

“Who’s the lucky girl?” I call out to him from where I sat. He turns to me from the door, and gives me a wink with his good eye, while I’m sipping my coffee. 

“He’s a guy.” he says, closing the door behind him. I choke on my coffee as it comes down.


	3. Chapter 3

The meeting later that day was uneventful, wrapping up around 3 in the afternoon. Just a bunch of numbers upon numbers, like it always was with the Great Fox. You’d think that saving the Lylat System more than once would net you a pardon, but money is money, and banks are banks.

On the way out of the building, I feel a hard thump on my shoulder.

“Hey, foxy. You good?” the pheasant asks me, his wing wrapped around me.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Falco. Just… Burnt out.” I say with a slight yawn.

“You seemed kind of spaced out in there.” he responds, patting my shoulder once more, than removing his arm.

“Like you’re one to talk. You were on your phone half the time.” I chuckle, as we walk out the building. “Where’re you parked?”

“Walked.” he states. “You?”

“Same.” I say with a shrug. He seems to smile a bit, and nods at me.

“You wanna come over and play some fighting games?” he asks, knowing full well I’d take any opportunity I could to beat him down. It does take me a moment to answer, though. “…I mean, if you’re not up to it, that’s fine-“

“Nah, I’m good. Let’s go.” I say, stretching.

Falco’s apartment was somewhat messy, with clothes littered about, and takeout boxes scattered around the room. He always seemed to know where everything is, amongst all the chaos; knowing him both in the air, and as a friend, it made a lot of sense.

For the most part, we used video games as a way to destress and talk about whatever was on our minds. Neither of us were really all that much into sports, and as pilots, we were both more accustomed to controls, rather than physical movement. I usually always had the upper hand on him, by virtue of me grinding out the games in my free time, but he was always happy to play; even if he had to accept losing most of the time.

That’s why he immediately knew something was weird when he won ten games in a row.

“Alright, that does it.” he says, turning the volume down, and tossing his controller gently on the ground.

“What?” I ask, before he takes my controller and places it on the table in front of us. He turns to me on the couch, and looks me in the eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“What are you talking about?” I ask with a slight chuckle.

“During the meeting today, you were totally not in it. Normally, you at least ask a question or two, but you were just staring at the wall. And the last time I won this much, you’d learned that ice cream shop you like so much was going out of business. Something’s up.” Falco stated.

“Hey, that meeting was boring as hell, and I’m still mourning over the loss of Haagen Dogs, okay?” I respond, thinking of the rainbow sorbet flavor, and its absence in my life. “Also, I’m fine, I’m just really tired. I pulled a late night last night.”

“Doing what?” Falco asked, to which I had no response.

“Uh… Homework.” I say, to which he immediately retaliates.

“We’ve been out of school for 8 years, idiot.” he chuckles, turning the TV off. “You can tell me what’s going on, dude. You know you can trust me.”

“…Yeah, sure.” I sigh.

“Wait, but, before you do…” Falco says, getting up quickly to run to his fridge. He grabs a couple of beers and opens them with his beak, and comes back to hand me one.

“Thanks.” I respond, taking a swig.

“Alright, now you can talk.” he says, taking a swig as well.

“…What do you think of Wolf?” I ask, leaning back into the couch.

“Like, Wolf O’Donnell?” he asks, leaning back as well.

“Yeah.” I say, taking another sip.

“He’s a dirt bag, but a good pilot.” Falco said with a bit of tiredness in his tone. “He was also just on the other side of the war, but he’s paying for it now through community service, right? I don’t remember much about the hearings, but I think they lightened the sentence due to how much they helped out in the Aparoid wars.”

“You paid attention to those?” I ask, confused.

“I’m surprised you didn’t, knowing how much of a rivalry you guys had.” he responded, shrugging. “Why do you ask?”

“He’s working at the Undergrind now.” I say, taking a larger swig. He lets out a laugh, and sips as well.

“Oh my god, Wolf O’Donnell, space mercenary is now a barista? I gotta see that.” he laughs, slapping his knee. I let out a small grumble, thinking about it. “Oh, right, that’s like, your favorite café. So you saw him?”

“More than once. Worst part is, he’s really, _really_ good at it. Best coffee I’ve ever had, honestly.” I sigh, placing my beer down on the table. “God, I hate seeing him there. I saw him this morning, and he tried talking to me, like, trying to apologize.”

“Apologize? Huh.” Falco said, taking another sip, staring blankly ahead.

“Yeah, he like… He told me that he’s made a lot of mistakes, and wants to make up for them? And that he treated me poorly during the war, and made it a point to tell me that he didn’t kill my dad, and… I dunno. It was just, a _lot_ to handle at once. He even asked me if I wanted him to transfer, because he didn’t want to bother me. It was so… Genuine. I couldn’t trust any of it.” I say, rambling. Falco nods his head every now and then, letting me know that he’s listening. “The guy wears button ups and jeans, and he had a monocle. A monocle. I feel like that’s, evil villain fashion.”

“Button ups and jeans?” Falco chuckles.

“Gah- you know what I mean.” I grumble, leaning against the side of the couch. “Doesn’t that weird you out?”

“Why pay for two lenses when you only have one working eye?” Falco says, taking a sip.

“Geez, that’s exactly what he said.” I sigh, to which Falco laughs.

“It sounds to me like he’s realized that he was wrong, and is trying to fix it. You know I like holding grudges, but everything you’re saying right now just sounds like you’re the one holding it.” he says nonchalantly.

“Can you blame me? I mean, on top of everything, he’s also gay!” I blurt out, picking up my beer and finishing it in one go. Falco matches me so we’re on the same level. “Like, what the hell? Wolf, gay? I just never expected him to be… Like that.”

“Well, so are you, but I don’t see you freaking out.” Falco laughed.

“Yeah, but I keep it a secret!” I respond, getting slightly heated. “Does that not bother you?”

Falco shrugs, and gets up to grab a couple more beers.

“I mean, I didn’t expect that, but all the power to him.” he calls to me. “How do you know, anyways?”

“He told me about a date that he’s going on with some guy. I just… It weirds me out. How anyone manages to be gay and public is beyond me.” I sigh, catching a beer that he tossed to me, along with a bottle opener. I pry open the cap, and take another swig. “He was just so… Open about it.”

“I mean, you’re allowed to come out any time you want.” Falco stated, walking back to the couch.

“You know it’s not that easy. Not for me.” I scoff, letting out an exasperated sigh. “God, it’s just so unfair. Since he was the bad guy, he could do literally anything and people wouldn’t think twice. Walking around with that weirdly calm and gentle smile, flexing his freakishly large biceps, sweet talking guys with that stupid wit of his… He’s got it all.”

“Sounds like someone’s got a crush.” Falco says with a lilting tone, taunting me.

“Yeah, I’m gonna crush your windpipe if you ever say that again.” I snarl at him, immediately causing him to back off.

“Whoa, there, bud. Sorry.” Falco says, holding up his wings as a sign of peace. I take another large swig from my bottle, and set it down.

“Nah, I’m sorry.” I sigh, burying my head in my hands. “I just… I don’t like what’s happening. I’ve seen him twice, and both times, he just leaves me looking like some… aggressive idiot who doesn’t know how to back down. I embarrassed myself in front of the entire café the first time, and then this morning, I made an ass of myself by trying to blame him for my dad, and… I hate seeing him so… normal. He kept being friendly, and apologizing, and it’s just… He’s my enemy, you know?”

“He was hired by Andross. He could’ve just as easily been hired by the Sergeant.” he responds, taking a sip. I sigh, and stare at the ground for a moment.

Wolf really did just wind up on the other side of the intercoms. If things had gone just a little differently, there’s a good chance that we could’ve even worked together. Maybe we could’ve had a rivalry that wasn’t spurred on by hatred, but by camaraderie. Maybe even… Something a bit…

“Ugh.” I say, shaking the thought that was about to form out of my head.

“I’ve got this theory about people. It’s not so much a theory as it is a fact, but I don’t know the scientific name for any of that stuff.” Falco starts. I turn to him, and wait for him to explain. “People wear multiple masks. That much is obvious. It’s why you wouldn’t talk to… I dunno, Peppy, the same way that you talk to me. Or why you don’t show up to a press conference wearing what you’re wearing right now, you college frat guy.”

“Look, the outfit’s just the first thing I saw in my closet.” I groan, remembering Wolf’s comment from that morning.

“Says a lot about your closet.” Falco chuckles. “But like I was saying, people aren’t always the same.”

“Where are you going with this?” I ask him. He nods.

“Do you really think that Wolf would behave the exact same way as a barista, that he does in a dogfight?” he asks me. I hesitate to answer.

“…Probably not.” I eventually say, as I finish off my beer.


	4. Chapter 4

A couple of days pass, and I can’t help but think about what Falco said. About people wearing multiple masks, and Wolf being a different person outside of the intercoms. The mask that I saw him wear during the wars, and the mask that I saw him wear in the coffee shop; how those two were so different, yet the same person lay underneath. A person can only be so different in situations; obviously, you should act appropriately as situations rise, but to change who you are entirely? That requires more than a mask; it requires time.

He was a criminal. A clear bad guy, by all definitions of the word. Or, at the very least, my definition of the word. I can’t imagine how there’d be anything else under that eyepatch but an evil red eye, filled with contempt and hatred.

But I haven’t seen what was under the eyepatch. I don’t know what’s underneath it, and it bothers me. It bothers me to absolutely no end.

So, I decide to find out.

Knowing that Wolf worked night shifts, I went back to the Undergrind on a Thursday night in a nice dark green shirt, tie, and slacks, knowing that there was usually jazz on those days. Clay was a really big fan of jazz, so he always let local jazz cats showcase their stuff; sometimes it was some college trio that needed a place to get used to performing, sometimes it was a real bigshot name who happened to hear about the place and felt like they wanted to grace the café with their performances.

Sometimes it was Wolf O’Donnell in a velvet suit and black tie, playing a saxophone smoother than a ship orbiting through space on a quiet day.

“What the hell?” I mutter to myself, watching him play, as I take a seat a few tables away from the main stage. 

I recognize the tune, but for the life of me, I can’t remember which one it is. I feel like it’s one I’ve heard before; with a bunch of weird quirks that I can’t really describe. He plays with intrigue, pulling me in with a questioning phrase, and letting me go softly with an answer. This continuous ebb and flow of harmony and melody entrances me, and I hardly forget it’s even… Wolf.

As I stare at his face, relaxed and calm, he looks in my direction and we lock eyes. Or, rather, I lock my eyes to his one. I feel my face get slightly warmer, watching him stare me down. I can tell he’s looking at me by the way that his eye seems to squint, then widen. His violet pupil shimmers in the spotlight, and he lets a small smirk form around his mouthpiece as he gently glides into a solo.

…

Before I even know it, I’m resting my head on my hand, my elbows on the table, staring at him with my eyes wide open. His solo is well crafted, designed with purpose, yet free and flowing, like a gentle breeze in a summer afternoon. His eyes are closed, with a gentle look of concentration, letting his saxophone speak for him. I hear him sing, and it feels like he’s singing for me. The way that he speaks, as if trying to tell me something. The sound envelops me, as if to tell me…

“You go to my head…” I hear him, singing into the microphone.

I mouth the words as he continues, hanging onto every note.

“With a smile that makes my temperature rise,  
Like a summer with a thousand Julys,  
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes.”

I swear that he glances at me during that last line, before focusing on singing.

“Though I'm certain that this heart of mine,  
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance;  
You go to my head.”

The band fades out, the keys ending with some casual licks on the higher end. Some light applause is scattered throughout the café, and I softly applaud, somewhat awestruck.

“We’ll be back in fifteen. Grab a cup of coffee while you wait.”

He places his sax back in a case on a couch nearby, and takes a seat next to it. I see him glance at his phone, as he takes a sip of water from a nearby glass. He shakes his head, and puts it away.

I had a tradition of making sure players knew that I liked their stuff. It wasn’t going to be any different this time around.

“Uh, hey.” I say awkwardly, walking up to Wolf. He glances up at me, and smirks slightly.

“Fox.” he says, with a pleasantly surprised tone. “Didn’t expect to see you.”

“I like jazz. Thought I’d come this week and see what was going on.” I reply nonchalantly, looking around the café as to appear uninterested. “Honestly, I was more surprised to see you on the stage.” I say sheepishly, bringing my gaze back to him. He undoes his tie, and pops open the top button of his shirt and takes a breath.

“So… What did you think?” he asks, taking another sip of water. “About the tune, I mean.” he continues.

“Oh. It was good!” I respond, with a slight cheer to my voice. “I mean, it was nice. I didn’t know you played sax. Or sang. You sound great.” I say, slightly stuttering between my statements. I can hear a slight chuckle start to form in his throat.

“Thanks.” he says, letting out a small laugh. “Guess my sax playing’s better than my coffee if it warrants a ‘great’ from you.” he continues.

“No, your coffee’s good, too.” I say, completely throwing any pretense I had of being hostile towards him. To be honest, I barely recognize him in the suit apart from his face; one that cleaned up quite well. “I mean… Uh… I just wanted to let you know that you’re really good. I’m not that big a fan of the tune, but… You play it well.”

“I try to do it justice. There’s a lot of good phrases in it. The changes are kind of weird, but it kind of fits it, you know?” he says, glancing over at his sax. He shakes his head slightly. “Sorry, changes meaning-“

“Chords, right?” I say. His eye seems to perk up in surprise. “My dad actually played trumpet. Mom and I used to watch his quartet practice in our house, growing up, whenever he was home. I still have his old records that he’d put on and play to.” I say, before catching myself revealing my childhood to him. He seems to listen intently, though, nodding.

“Do you play at all?” he asks.

“I tried picking up guitar for a moment, but I got sick of all the theory that went into it. You make me kind of wish I kept going.“ I chuckle. He returns the chuckle, and there’s a small moment of silence between us.

“Hey, I need to tell you something.” I tell him, pulling up a chair. He takes another sip of his water, and nods. “Um… I’m really sorry.” I sigh, looking at him. He raises his eyebrow.

“For what?” he asks.

“For… You know. Being really hostile with you.” I reply. He lets a small grin form on his face, and leans back.

“It’s fine; you saw your war rival in a café. I would’ve reacted the same way.” he laughs.

“But you didn’t, Wolf. You were calm, while I basically threatened killing you in public. And the day after, you were so… Open with me. I just kept assuming the worst, and I feel really, really bad.” I continue, looking down at my hands, playing with my fingers. “Like, I just assumed that you were here to hunt me down, but you’re just trying to do your job.”

“Man, you seem really upset about treating a criminal poorly.” he laughs, but I sigh.

“I was talking with Falco about you, and he just… He opened my eyes to some stuff that I was not thinking about at all. Like thinking that what you were paid to do were like personal attacks on me. We’re both mercenaries; of course you were just doing your job. You do whatever you do, and I just took it so… Ugh.” I say, looking up at him. The smile on his face was slowly fading.

“Fox, I’m telling you, it’s fine-“

“No, it’s not. If you’ve already buried whatever hatchet I’ve fabricated in my head, then I want to bury it too. I’m sick of feeling like I need to be on guard around you. Just… Please accept my apology.” I say, getting slightly angry with myself, looking down again.

“Hey, hey, calm down.” he says, placing an arm on my shoulder. I look up at him, and he shows a real look of concern for me on his face. “I accept. In return, though, you gotta accept my apology, too.”

“For what?” I say, embarrassed at how heated I was getting.

“For all of the stuff I said during the war. Believe it or not, I had it out for you while that was happening. I was obsessed with seeing you fail, and shooting you down, and… I don’t anymore, now that… Well, we lost, but… Still doesn’t justify the stuff I was saying to you. Do you forgive me?” he asks.

“Yeah.” I say with a slight laugh, feeling a huge weight being lifted from my shoulders. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Good.” he replies with his own chuckle.

“So… How long have you been playing?” I ask, gesturing over to his sax.

“Since I was 13 or something.” he said, looking over at it. “Some friends convinced me to join my junior high’s wind ensemble, and I did it on a whim. I had more fun than I thought I would. I just kept going, and now it’s 14 years later, and I still play. I played in a lot of sketchy bars while I was living the mercenary life, since a lot of the stuff I did was… You know, sketchy. But the music was good. I learned most of what I know between the first war and the Aparoids, I think.”

“Jesus, it’s like you have this whole life that I know nothing about.” I mutter, to which he shrugs.

“I wouldn’t expect you to know about my life with the saxophone.” he laughs. “It’d be kind of weird if you did, considering our situation.”

“Yeah, it’s just… It’s weird to be talking to you like this.” I say, scratching the back of my head. He shrugs, and starts to tie his tie again. His fingers are surprisingly delicate, but I should’ve expected as much from an ace pilot and apparently, a master saxophonist. He’s finished tying it, and sighs, looking down for a moment.

“Fox, what are you still doing here?” he asks, looking back up at me. There’s an air of uncertainty about him, and his eye says it all. He’s genuinely asking me the question. This is a look I _haven’t_ seen from him on the intercoms. “If all you came to do is apologize, then it’s fine. Again, you’re not the only one with reasons to hate me.” he says reflectively.

He’s definitely not wrong. Star Wolf has caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people, which is why he’s serving a lot of people a lot of coffee now. The fact that he helped us win the Aparoid War is the only reason that he’s being given such a light sentence compared to other criminals. But for some reason… When I look at him now, it’s almost impossible to think that this was the man who’s tried killing me so many times. Was he really out for blood? Or was he really just doing his job…? There’s really only one way to know.

“Wolf, I… I’ve been thinking about what you said the first time I saw you here.” I begin, looking off to the side. “It might’ve been a joke, but when you asked me if I knew you, I realized that I really didn’t.” His eye perks up, and I turn back to face him. “I mean, I had no clue you were gay, or went on dates. I always thought you were some womanizer who just slept with whatever hooker you happened to find that night.” I chuckle, and he’s clearly a little offended. “Sorry. Um… I don’t know how to say this…” I say, tapping my foot. He’s clearly a little disgruntled form my previous comment. The words then come to me, clear as day. “I guess I just want to know… What are your dreams? Your aspirations? Your favorite color?” I ask. His expression lightens, and he lets out a slight chuckle.

“If you want to try being friends, that’s gonna take more than 4 minutes.” he says, checking his watch. He looks back at me, and hands his phone over. “Here, put your number in. I’ll give you a text really quickly.”

I put my number in, and hand his phone back to him. I get a text, and it reads, “;-P” Unamused, I enter his contact information into my phone. He picks up his sax out of his case, and walks back on stage.

“Give me a text sometime, Fox. We can try hanging out when I’m not working.” Wolf says with a wink and a smile. It’s hard to not smile back at your mortal enemy, believe it or not.

I snap a photo of him with his sax, and save it as his contact photo.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just a heads-up, there's a bit of swearing in this chapter, and referenced sex. There's also some slur usage due to internalized self-hatred, so if you're uncomfortable with the f word used to describe LGBTQ+ people, letting you know that it's in this chapter.

For the next couple of weeks, Wolf and I made plans to hang out often. We always met at the Undergrind late at night when his shift ended, sitting at the couch that we talked at the first time I saw him not on the job. We’d grab a couple of drinks, and then talk about whatever happened to come up that day.

Sometimes it was music. Sometimes it was mercenary work. Sometimes it was just plain small talk, with some family stuff thrown in here and there.

He lived a relatively normal childhood, surprisingly; just without a mom. His parents had divorced when he was young, so he didn’t remember too much, but his dad did what he could; even if his actions didn’t show it all the time. I told him about what life was like before my dad died, and how it was afterwards. We connected on a lot of surprising points.

We even learned that we attended the same academy, just a year apart; but he left the academy to start pursuing mercenary work before he graduated. We continued to learn more and more about each other as time went on; and about how weirdly similar we were, and how a few choices turned us against each other in ways we couldn’t have predicted.

After those couple of weeks, we made plans to meet in the Undergrind again.

“Hey, so… Remember that time you flagged me down to talk? It was like, one of the first times we talked.” I ask him, taking a sip of my coffee. He stretches and chuckles.

“Oh, right. What about it?” he asks back.

“You went on a date that day, right?” I ask him, and he scoffs with a laugh.

“Yeah, I remember that.” he chuckles, looking off to the side.

“How did it go? With that guy. I always meant to ask you but I totally forgot until now.” I say, leaning forward to hear his answer. He leans back, and takes a sip of his own coffee.

“Crashed and burned. It was basically me asking him questions for an hour, and him giving me half answers. He seemed kind of scared, honestly.” he sighed, looking up as if to remember the day. “I feel like he didn’t know who I was while we were texting, but after he met me in person, he just got… quiet.”

“So, it was a blind date?” I ask him. He shrugs in response.

“Something like that. I tried using this service where you match with someone based on mutual interests, and he seemed really interesting. He played trumpet, liked ships, I thought we’d get along. But hey, you see one eyepatch, and all of a sudden you’re not interesting anymore, and you’re just a mess talking with an evil space mercenary.” he chuckles, but I feel a weird tone coming off of his last sentence.

“I mean, maybe he just wasn’t expecting Wolf O’Donnell on the other end. All your dates can’t be like that, right? You’re pretty charming.” I say with a slight tone of assurance. He sighs, and takes another sip.

“You’d be surprised. People just get intimidated by me, whether or not they know who I am.” he says, causing me to laugh.

“Really? I’ve seen you threaten to kill me with your Wolfen over the intercom, and people think you’re intimidating by just talking? Maybe it’s the eyepatch.” I chuckle, and he smirks in response.

“Yeah, maybe.” he chuckles back. It’s nice knowing that I can get him to laugh.

“What about you, though? I’m sure you’ve got guys crawling all over you, being Fox McCloud.” he says, to which I almost say, ‘I wish’, before catching myself. I’m not exactly sure if Wolf is at the point where he gets to know yet.

“You mean girls.” I chuckle sheepishly, to which he leans forward and places his cup down on the table. He holds his hands up in defense.

“Oh, shit, sorry, I’m really sorry about that.” Wolf said, suddenly weirdly concerned.

“No, it’s fine, dude. Don’t apologize.” I say, hoping that I can keep up the straight charade around him. He seems to be buying it.

“Sorry, it’s just that straight people are normally so much more offended by something like that. I hit on a straight guy once at a bar on Venom, and he immediately tried to sock me in the face. I mean, I took him down, obviously, but still. People do not take it well.” he mutters, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “But… Still. Being you, you’ve got to have the ladies all over you, right?” he says, quickly trying to change the topic.

“Sure, I guess.” I say, thinking about the clear flirting that most women try to do with me when they see me out and about. “Women definitely don’t hide their attempts to get with me. Honestly, it’s kind of annoying.” I mumble, to which Wolf scoffs.

“Yeah, must be so annoying to be adored by everyone on the planet.” he laughs, to which I playfully slap him on the arm.

“Shut up. You’d get annoyed with it too if every person you meet was either trying to get your autograph or get in your pants.” I say, finishing my coffee.

“Maybe. Then again, being straight sounds nice. Sounds easy.” he responds casually, looking over at the rest of the people in the café. 

Yeah, I’d like to know what it’s like, too, I think to myself.

“You know, I didn’t always have an eyepatch, believe it or not.” he says, to which I lean forward. “You wanna know what happened?”

I nod, eager to finally figure the story out behind the eyepatch.

“I think… I think I was 16 when I figured out I was gay? I always knew, but it didn’t really hit me until I was at this academy party at some dude’s house. Pretty standard stuff, underage drinking, people smoking, lots of loud music, weird sexual tension that either manifests itself into sex or unchecked aggression. You know how it is.” he starts, describing the scene. “It was my second year at the academy, and also my last. You were 15 or something, I think. We’re a year apart, right?” 

I nod, prompting him to continue.

“Right. So anyways, there was this guy in one of my flight classes, I think his name was Ryan or something. Real attractive leopard. Guy was ripped. He kept in good shape, he was witty, scored high on flight exams, the works. Real grade-A guy. We didn’t really know each other that well, but we were friendly. At the party, he was just hanging out in the corner, minding his own business. For some reason, I felt like going up to him and talking; academy Wolf was a lot more sociable than you’d think he was.” he says with a slight laugh. “We were both drinking, and we started talking about ships, planes, flight things, general stupid Academy shit. It moved on to other stuff, like music, sports, a bunch of stuff. Then we started talking about working out, and that was back when I really kept in shape. Next thing you know, we’re grabbing each other’s biceps, and… Well, you could guess what would happen from there.”

“Wow, really?” I ask, my jaw slightly hanging.

“Yeah. Punching contest.” he says, causing my jaw to drop ever more so slightly.

“What?” I say, dumbfounded.

“Man, we both had a lot of unchecked aggression, so I just… I asked him to punch me, you know? Just to see how hard he could hit.” he laughs. “He packed a real punch, that’s for sure. But then he asked me to hit him back. And so I did. And then it went back and forth for a while, until we were both pretty sore. Obviously, it hurt a lot, so we both decided to go to the bathroom just to look in the mirror to make sure we weren’t like… too damaged or something, you know?”

“Is that really what jocks do to each other?” I say, almost laughing in disbelief. He shrugs, and takes another sip from his coffee.

“Yeah, if you’re 16 and don’t know how to deal with attraction to other men. We were in the bathroom, and then we removed our shirts, and, man, were we bruised.” he says with emphasis. “But then… We looked at each other, and I swear, he made the first move by feeling up my abs. Asking me things about my workout routine. I made the next one by planting one straight on his lips.” he sighs, his voice becoming more distant.

“What happened after that?” I ask, slightly uneasy with where the story was going.

“Oh, we went at it.” he states with a slight smirk. “It was crazy, that guy was a really good kisser. Sloppy, sure, but neither of us cared. We were both kind of drunk, beat the shit out of each other, and respected each other as men. So of course, we made out. I actually remember dropping to my knees, and unbuttoning his pants-“

“You don’t have to tell me about this part.” I say, cutting him off.

“Nah, this is the important part. So anyways, I had his dick in my mouth,” he continues, and I nod out of politeness. “When some chick barged open the door, and saw two guys all bruised up, with one sucking the other off. She screamed something like, ‘Holy shit!’ and then ran off. Ryan and I put our shirts on as quickly as we could, and we left the bathroom, hoping no one would know. And of course… Everyone knew.”

“Oh, man, I think I remember hearing about that, actually.” I say, recalling back to my days in the academy. “I had no idea it was about you and some guy named Ryan, though.”

“Nah, the rumor was just about me.” he continued, his voice suddenly becoming quiet. “The people at the party started jeering at us, and I tried convincing him to leave together, but… Well, we were both 16. We made stupid decisions. He clawed at my face and told the rest of the party that ‘this faggot’ made a move on him.”

“Wolf…” I say, horrified at what happened.

“Man, there was so much blood. He tried apologizing right after, but I socked him in the face then ran out of the house, clutching my eye the entire way. God, that hurt so much. I ran all the way home, then looked at it in the mirror. It was a surprise when I found out I could only see it with one of my eyes.” he said, his voice choking up somewhat. “Dad drove me to a hospital, and there was nothing they could do except… Clean up the wound, I guess. Needless to say, I dropped out. Didn’t even help, though. House still got egged, constant threats sent to me. A few bricks through my window.”

“And that’s when you…” I say, and he nods.

“Yup. Grabbed my sax, a few changes of clothes, stole one of the fighters from the academy, and skipped town. I worked on Corneria for a while, in some other cities, and then found myself doing some sketchy missions from time to time. Before I knew it, I’d already gotten wrapped up in some shady work, and the cops were out for me. So, I did what any 16 year old in my situation would do.” he chuckled, somehow lightening the mood. “Left the planet entirely. Kept doing odd jobs on other planets for a year, got a lot better at flying, that’s for sure. Had more than a few close calls, but I got the hang of it. Eventually, I found my way over to Venom, and there was work aplenty for guys like me who didn’t care where the money was coming from. That’s actually where I met Leon. He was the first to suggest I get the eye patch. Told me that the scar was disgusting.” he laughed.

“That’s… That’s terrible. I mean, no one should have to go through something like that, especially when they’re 16.” I say, trying my best to console him. He shrugs, and takes another sip of his coffee, it being lukewarm at this point.

“That’s how everyone on Venom was. Everyone had some shit that they went through. Met some guys like me, actually. Had a lot of good times with guys like me.” he said with a slight laugh. “By the time I was 19, people knew who I was. Andross hired me, so I rounded up a few low-lifes like me, and you’ve got the story up to our first dogfight together.”

“Holy shit…” I say, processing everything he told me. “I… I really had no idea.”

“No one does, Fox. The side I fought for was the only one that took me for who I was. So… there you have it.” he states, leaning back in his chair. “Probably answered more questions than you needed to know.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m glad you told me.” I say, suddenly imagining who Wolf was back in the academy. A young, bright-eyed hopeful who wanted to fight for his planet; betrayed by the thing he swore to protect.

“You wanna know the real kicker, though?” he says, leaning closer to me. I lean in as well. “I found Ryan in a gay bar on MacBeth a couple of years after the party. He got all quiet, then started freaking out, trying to apologize, but I just dragged him over to the bathroom and locked the door behind us. Laid the moves on him, got him to make out with me, getting his guard down. Then I beat him to a pulp and just left him there.”

The air is thick with silence, and I slowly put together a different picture of Wolf. One that upset me; not because of who he was, but the things that shaped him to be the man he was. My fists curl into balls of rage, and he seems to notice.

“That was a long time ago, though. But… Yeah. That’s how I got the eyepatch.” he says, trying to defuse a situation before it could arise.

“That doesn’t excuse anything that happened to you.” I growl, feeling my fur stand on end. “This entire time, I just though you were this bad guy, who was out to destroy everything good, and had some weird vendetta against me.”

“You think I wouldn’t jump at the chance to take down the academy’s star pupil? I had a lot of shit I was working through when I was 19.” he laughs, and the sound of his laughter gets me to calm down somewhat.

“But… I feel bad. I feel bad that the academy did that to you. Corneria failed you. I wouldn’t have even shot you down if I knew your story.” I sigh. He shrugs, and pats me on the shoulder.

“Don’t feel bad. I don’t think I would’ve ever forgiven you if I knew you went easy on me. You took me down in a fair fight.” he says with a soft smile. “On an off day, of course. I could shoot you down easily if we tried now.”

“Sure.” I say, shoving him away from me playfully. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Hit me up when my parole’s over.” he laughs, and we both share a good chuckle.

“Still, though. Sorry about… homophobia?” I say, my voice trailing upwards as I guess what to say to best comfort him after hearing that.

“Unless you started homophobia, you’ve got nothing to apologize for.” he says, prompting a slight laugh from me. “Besides…” he trails off, finishing his coffee off as well. “You get used that kind of thing when you’re a villain.” he says quietly, looking into his cup.

For a split second, I feel like I see him in full vulnerability, but he quickly regains his composure and puts on his mask of confidence.

“Sorry, you didn’t need to hear my sob story.” he says, stretching his arms. “I should head out. I’m covering someone’s morning shift tomorrow, and if I go to sleep now, I might get… 4 hours.” he says with a yawn.

“Oh, shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you this long.” I apologize, but he shrugs.

“You gotta stop apologizing for things you didn’t do.” he says, standing up.

“Sorry-I mean… You’re right.” I say, catching myself. He smirks, and he holds his arms out. Assuming he was asking for a hug, I quickly embrace him, and he returns it shortly.

“Is this weird?” he asks.

“No. We’re friends.” I say, and we pat each other on the back for a quick moment.

We linger for a moment, and then we let go.

“You know, I’ve got an apartment if you ever feel like not hanging out in a coffee shop past midnight.” he says, putting his coat on. I start tying my red scarf to my neck, and he’s watching intently.

“That sounds nice.” I reply, before waving him goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've also edited the chapter to remove a scene with some implied non-con sex; upon further inspection, I think it's not something that I'd like to have in the scene. It breaks the tone, and was pretty frankly a little too angsty, even with the other angst that plagued the chapter. Also, non-con is bad.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days pass, and Wolf texts me to invite me over to his apartment. Falco’s with me, so I ask if it’s alright if he comes. Wolf doesn’t seem to care, so Falco and I go over to Wolf’s.

“Sounds like you and Wolf have gotten pretty close if he’s booty calling you now.” Falco chuckled, as we were at the door. I elbow him in the side. “Hey, it was a joke!”

“Not a joke if it’s something that could actually happen.” I mumble, knocking on the door. Falco snickers, and we hear the door unlock. Wolf opens it, and he’s wearing a plain black T and some light brown khakis. It suits him.

“Hey, Fox!” he says enthusiastically, looking at me. He then looked at Falco, who was somewhat wary.

“Wolf.” Falco said, nodding at Wolf. Wolf shrugged and extended a hand, to which Falco hesitantly shook. “Wow, never thought I’d just… See you.”

“Honestly, wasn’t expecting you, but the more the merrier.” Wolf said with a smile. “Come on in, guys. I’ve got some whiskey I’ve been meaning to go through.”

“Alright, now we’re talking.” Falco said, rubbing his wings together as he walked into the apartment. Wolf continued to hold the door open for me as I walked inside.

Wolf’s apartment was surprisingly clean, and somewhat empty aside from a few couches and a TV set. The main room was connected to the kitchen, which led to the balcony with a small table for where I imagined Wolf had his morning coffee. In the corner of the living room was a sound system, along with a record player and his saxophone case. I could see some music books piled on the floor next to his music stand, and could tell he was practicing earlier.

“Nice place you got.” I say, as he closes the door behind us.

“Thanks. My parole officers make sure I keep it clean every week or so. It’s being paid for with a lot of what I stashed away before the Aparoid Invasion.” he explains, walking me over to the living room area. Falco was inspecting the Kitchen, looking around to see if he could find anything out about Wolf.

“You keep it really clean in here. Hiding something?” Falco called, to which Wolf laughed.

“If you open the fridge, you’ll find beer, but that’s about it.” Wolf said, followed by the sound of the fridge immediately being opened.

“Might have to confiscate these later.” Falco laughed, seemingly more relaxed.

“Hey, come sit. Let’s crack this 40-year scotch open.” he says, and we all sit down on his couch. He opens up a handle of scotch, and pours us all a double-shot or so. “To not trying to shoot each other down in dogfights.”

“To not trying to shoot each other down in dogfights.” Falco and I both say, and we clink our glasses before downing them. The scotch went down smooth, smooth to the point of not needing a chaser.

“Damn, that’s some good scotch.” Falco says, before already pouring himself another.

The three of us continue drinking, and Falco and Wolf mainly chat with each other while I listen. Wolf and I had hung out enough, and it was interesting to see the two of them go on about things like soccer and gun models. Wolf even picked up his sax for a moment, before we got a noise complaint.

Before we knew it, it had become 1:30 in the morning.

“Ah, shit.” Falco said with a slight slur, looking at his phone. “I gotta call a cab. Katt and I are grabbing brunch tomorrow and I can’t be too hungover for that.”

“The pink one?” Wolf asks, slightly surprised.

“Yeah. She finally told me she liked me, so we’re trying it out.” Falco said with a slight smile on his face. He looks over at me and hiccups. “Hey, you good? Like, are you gonna go home?”

Wolf looks at me and shrugs, as if to tell me I was free to stay or leave.

“Nah, I think I’m gonna stay a bit more. Go get some sleep.” I say, and he nods.

“See ya.” he calls to the both of us, before leaving out the front door.

“Man, he doesn’t hold his alcohol too well, does he?” Wolf laughed, to which I laughed back.

“You’re one to talk, mister ‘I’m going to play the sax at 12:30 in the morning.’” I say. He can’t help but laugh, and we opens two beers that he had grabbed earlier. We clink our bottles, and sip.

“TV?” he asks, and I nod. He turns it on, and the channel is on a news station; covering recent planetary scandals.

“Man, these people don’t know the half of what’s going on in space.” I mutter, drinking.

“It’s TV. Of course they don’t know as much as an actual Cornerian mercenary.” Wolf chuckled. The sound of his voice is smooth and comforting, and I hear his laugh soften. My face feels crazy hot from all of the whisky, and drinking beer doesn’t help, but I don’t really care.

We’re both watching mindlessly, when I hear him take a breath.

“Hey, so what’s sex with women like?” he asks me, and I nearly choke on my beer. I somehow swallow it down, and look at him strangely.

“What?” I ask him, more confused by the fact he would ask rather than the question itself.

“Vagina. Never tried. Can’t blame a guy for wondering what it’s like on the other side.” he says with a shrug, taking another sip of his beer.

“What kind of question is that?” I ask in disbelief.

“Look, we’re both drunk, and I figured now was as good a time as any to ask.” he says, slightly blushing. At least, I think it’s blushing. It could just be the blood rushing to his face from all the alcohol.

“Um… Well, tell me what it’s like to have sex with guys.” I ask, figuring I can hold off on making something up.

“On which end? Top, or bottom?” he asks casually, as if he was asking me what I had for dinner. “They’re kind of different.”

Oh, yeah, they are, I think to myself.

“Um… Top.” I ask, actually not having a lot of experience in the department.

“It’s… I dunno, tight? Warm. You never try anal with a girl?” he asks. The awkwardness in the silence only grows more present, as he continues to back me into situations asking me about my sex life. I hate how quick he is at thinking on his feet.

“…I’m a virgin.” I say, technically not lying when it came to women. He peers into my eyes, and I feel like he’s a living lie detector with that piercing gaze of his. He backs away, and shrugs.

“Alright.” he says, dropping the subject. I get the feeling that he doesn’t believe me. “Fox McCloud, virgin at 26 years old. Kind of surprising.” he says with a slight chuckle, continuing to drink.

We both stare at the TV, a deadly awkward silence hanging in the air. As I continue sipping my beer, I recall that Wolf’s parole ends in a couple of days. I just figured that Wolf would continue working at the Undergrind forever, and that we’d just keep hanging out like this, but… Time presses onwards. Of course it couldn’t last forever.

“Hey, uh…” I say, and he looks at me with a questioning hum. “Your parole’s over soon, right?”

“Yeah, day after tomorrow. Why do you ask?” he says, turning the TV down.

“…What do you plan on doing? After this is over.” I ask, and he’s wearing a look of contemplation on his face. “Like, are you going back to mercenary work? You could keep working on Corneria. Or are you… Going back to Venom?”

He’s weirdly quiet.

“Wait, are you going back to crime?” I ask him, and he scoffs.

“I don’t know.” he says, and I already feel myself getting heated. “Besides, it’s only crime to you Cornerians. Back on Venom, it’s just business.”

“What are you talking about? Do you already have something lined up?” I ask, hoping that he’ll say something as simple as ‘no’.

“There’s this… Sketchy trading company that wants me to do some escort missions for some drug traders. I’d leave day parole ended.” he sighs, as if he was confessing something to me. “Haven’t said yes, yet. Considering it, though.”

“What the hell, Wolf?!” I yell, and I see him immediately go on the defense. He chugs his beer, and slams it down on the table. “After three months of parole and cleaning up, you’re just going to throw it all away and go back to… that? That’s not even that big a mission, and it could still land you on a bounty list.”

“Hey, I don’t know where you got the idea that you were allowed to get mad at me for doing what I do best, but you better back the fuck off.” he says, looking at me with contempt. I furrow my brow, and chug my beer as well.

“Oh, really? What are you gonna do, assault me? See how that goes with your parole officer.” I scoff, and he growls at me, baring his teeth.

“Shut up.” he says, before turning the TV off. “You wouldn’t get it, anyways. You heard my story. What about you? Things went perfectly for you, and all of Corneria is just lining up to suck your dick.” he spits at me bitterly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I say, before the implications of what he said hits me. He grabs me by the shirt, and pulls me in close, and I feel scared for the first time by him.

“Do you not get it?! There’s a reason you’re the only person I hang out with. Everyone besides you still treats me like I’m trash, fucking regardless of what I did to help you out during the whole Aparoid business. I’m two days out from parole, and someone spit at me for walking in the park today. You don’t get to decide whether or not I should stay on this damned planet.” he growls at me, his teeth inches away from my face.

He stares at me with a wild look in his eye, and lets me go, and I find myself trying to catch my breath.

“…Sorry.” Wolf says with regret in his voice. I can tell it’s genuine. We give each other a moment to cool down.

“…It’s fine.” I mutter, unsure of what the hell I was even trying to accomplish by yelling at him. “It’s just that… What happens if you get hired to intercept Star Fox again?”

He’s uncomfortably silent, and I can tell from the look on his face that he hadn’t thought about it before.

“I’m gonna go.” I say, getting up, but he pulls me back down onto the couch.

“Fox, I wouldn’t take that job.” he says, looking at me in the eye.

“Then why would you take this one?” I ask him, and the tension that we felt earlier came rising up to the surface quickly, and I see him get heated once more.

“Geez, Fox!” Wolf says, raising his voice at me. I have to lean away from his presence. “It’s literally not your concern, and how I choose to live my life is not up to you, of all people.” he says, his voice more hostile.

“If you went back to… To just doing whatever you did before. If you were hired to kill me, would you-“ I say, before he interrupts me.

“Fox, you know I wouldn’t-“ he says, but I don’t let him finish.

“Really? Because I’ve barely known you for a month! How much could I possibly know about you and what you would do?” I say, rolling my eyes. He scoffs and opens his mouth, but I don’t let him start. “I knew you’d look for honest work after your parole, but apparently, I don’t know anything!”

“Why the fuck do you even care?!” he yells at me.

“Wolf, I just… I don’t want to see you die a criminal, alright?! I care about you!” I yell back, raising my voice at him. We’re face to face, and I can smell the whiskey lingering in his breath. His eye is looking at me with bewilderment, and I can see him thinking, inches away from me. Suddenly, I see him stop concentrating, and I recognize his new look as him being impulsive, like when he’d chase me down in our ships, not stopping to think about the obvious risks. Like when he has to save his allies, against all odds, not thinking about it in the slightest.

Like when he presses his lips against mine, closing his eyes.

His lips are warm, and taste like beer. The fur from his muzzle is pressing against my nose, and it smells musky, and it’s overwhelming, if not intoxicating. He’s silent, commandeering, and forceful. I close my eyes as well, from the sheer shock of it all. I can feel his weight on top of mine, but a slight hesitance, as if asking if it’s okay to keep going. He presses his tongue against my lips, but doesn’t force it in, and rather, holds off, waiting for me to open my mouth. When I feel him holding back, I push him off, and he opens his eye, realizing what he’d just done.

“Whoa, whoa, WHAT are you doing?!” I yell, slightly high-pitched. He immediately scoots away to the other end of the couch, and hits himself on the head.

“Wolf, you fucking idiot!” he yells at himself, staring at his hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, shit, shit-“ Burying his head in his palms, he just keeps on cursing an endless stream of words at himself. It takes a while for me to collect myself, but I’ve figured out what happened. Wolf O’Donnell just tried making out with me.

“Wolf, it’s alright, you’re drunk and-“ I start, but he cuts me off.

“It’s not, Fox!” he yells, baring his teeth at me. I immediately back off. “It’s not alright! What the hell am I doing?! You’re straight, and I know that, but I just tried making out with you! And even if you were gay, I had no place to just kiss you out of the blue, without consent or the slightest warning.” Wolf struggles to say, clutching his fists and looking away. “…God, I’m such an idiot.” he sighs. Getting up, he hands me my scarf. “You should go. It’s 2 in the morning, and you have a debriefing tomorrow.” he says, walking over to the door.

Everything in my head is screaming to get out of there, but something in the very depths of my soul is saying that I should stay. That feeling creeps its way out, and takes over my right arm. Getting up, I grab him, and pull him back in for another kiss. He presses his tongue against my mouth, and I let it in this time.

That night, he learned I was definitely lying about being a virgin.


	7. Chapter 7

When I wake up, it’s morning, and my ass hurts like no tomorrow, but in the best way possible. It then hits me. I look over to my right, and see Wolf, staring up at the ceiling, fully awake, without his eyepatch. I assume he can’t see me with his scarred eye, but he can definitely hear me. We’re both still fully naked on the bed, minus our socks, and we just stare into his plaster walls.

I glance over at his watch and see it’s 12:00. 3 hours before the debriefing. I stare back up.

Yup. That’s just what I did. I laid there, staring at Wolf’s ceiling, and thought about how I just had sex with someone who’s tried to kill me multiple times before. All of the times that me and Wolf fired at each other, they led to this; drunk, impulsive sex at 3 in the morning. It was amazing sex, too.

“Either you’re a really good friend, or you’re not actually straight.” he says, speaking up. I sigh.

“Wolf, I’m gay.” I say.

“Yeah, no shit.” he grunts, sitting up. I follow suit, and we finally start looking at each other. “Where’d you learn how to ride cock like that?” he asks, smirking. I can feel heat rising to my face, and I turn my head away.

“I’ve had a few hookups here and there. I usually pay my partners to keep it under wraps.” I admit to him. He scoffs, and pulls out a cigarette from his nightstand, and lights it. “You smoke?” I ask him.

“When I’m stressed.” he says, puffing. The smile on his face has slowly faded away, and it’s replaced with a more contemplative look. “…Fox, I feel like we made a mistake last night. As great of a mistake as it was, I think that we shouldn’t have done that.” he sighs, reaching for his eyepatch that sit on his nightstand. He straps it back on, and I’m greeted with the face that I’m more familiar with. “I mean, I was drunk, I kissed you, and then it just… Escalated really, really quickly. Does that bother you at all?” he asks, looking down at his naked body.

“I mean… I was the one who pulled you back in.” I say, starting to recollect my memories of the previous night. “You tried to get me to leave, so if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” I recall, sighing. “I enjoyed it, though.”

“It’s not about enjoying it, Fox.” he grumbles, taking another puff. “People like us need to learn how to be comfortable about it. That’s the real question I’m asking. Are you okay with what we just did?” he asks, looking at me. I can imagine the eye behind his eyepatch staring me down.

“I don’t know, Wolf.” I respond, and this clearly makes him worried. “It was fun, and we both definitely needed that, and… That’s all I know. We can just go at it again right now if you’re so worried-“

“That’s not the point! Can you please stop dodging around the question? Do you think we made a mistake?” he says, cutting me off. He’s raised his voice somewhat, and the room is silent. I cough, clearing my throat.

“…I’m not out, Wolf. If anyone finds out about what we did here, it’s going to ruin me.” I finally say, and he groans, taking a very long drag. He lets it out slowly, and the smoke decorates the air. He ashes it on the shirt he was wearing last night.

“Then we shouldn’t have done this.” he groans, smacking himself on the head. “Fuckin’ shit.” I hear him mumble under his breath. He pulls out another cigarette, and lights it.

“Wolf, quit blaming yourself. It’s just as much my fault, if not just my fault. I was the one who kept pushing forward, and I took you along for the ride. You clearly saw the line, so it’s not your burden to bear.” I try explaining, but he shakes his head.

“Fox, if this ruins your career, people are going to blame me, and I was the one who made the first move. If you can’t keep doing what you love and enjoy, then I’m going to blame myself for that, too. That’s what’s bothering me. We both know that you’re just a horny fox,” he chuckles, trying to lighten the situation. I grumble playfully. “But we shouldn’t do anything else until we figure out what we’re going to do about… this.”

“Fuck, if I was just out, then this’d be so much easier to deal with.” I groan. “We could probably go again right now, if I was out.” I groan again, starting to feel like needing a cigarette myself, despite never having smoked.

“Are you ever going to come out?” he asks, smoke leaving his mouth. I sigh, leaning over to the side of the bed to pick up my shirt.

“Probably. I don’t know. I thought I was ace for most of my life until some random guy kissed me at a gay bar four years ago, leading to a very… eventful night.” I say, reversing the sleeves on my shirt to normal. Wolf’s watching me work with my shirt. “If I ever do come out, it’ll have to be slow. Like… Very slow. I can’t make some social media post, I can’t make some kind of public service announcement. Bringing it up to my publicity agents would not go over well, due to all of the shit they’d have to wade through to make it work.”

“What, is there something wrong with being gay?” he asks, clearly trying to guilt me.

“Don’t try that shit with me, Wolf.” I grumble, turning away and putting my shirt on, although leaving it unbuttoned. “You wouldn’t get it. You were a criminal, you can just do whatever you want and people will just think, ‘Oh, I knew something was up with that Wolf guy.’ It’s not like that for me. I have an image to keep up. I’m a mercenary, clean and cut. That’s all there is to it.”

“If you were just a mercenary, you wouldn’t have publicity agents or a huge image to keep up.” he says as a matter of fact. “When I was still working, Star Wolf operated on its own. No managers, no worries, we just did what we felt like. Anyone who hired us knew that we were good, and that was it. Like how it should be. All of this networking, publicity, keeping good in the public eye… Sounds like a load of crap to me.” he continues, smoking in between sentences.

I take a bit to respond. I watch the smoke float into the air, and it’s oddly calming. He’s speaking calmly, and I know he’s right. If it really was just about work, then I wouldn’t be jumping through hoops to keep this part of me hidden. I’d just go out, do some more work, and then go sleep with some random guy somewhere. Maybe some random Wolf somewhere, if we were both free.

“Yeah, but I also care about how people view me. I’ve saved the Lylat System multiple times. People adore me, and I’m in good standings with General Pepper and the rest of Corneria. I’m the ‘good guy’. You can’t be the good guy when you act purely out of self-interest.” I say. He humphs, and crosses his arms.

“There’s a difference between self-interest and selfishness, pup.” he says, looking over at me. For some reason, the word pup doesn’t get to me like it did before. “Being selfish is taking everything for yourself, regardless of how it affects others. Being self-interested means looking after yourself. I know what it’s like to be in the closet, Fox. It’s not healthy, especially for someone at your age.” he says with concern, placing a hand on my leg.

“Please.” I scoff, moving his hand off. “Like you’ve been anything but selfish. All of the missions you took were purely for profit. I want to be a light for this city. To be the hero that they need. If that means staying in the closet and looking like the poster child for good guys of the galaxy, then… Fine.”

“Is that actually what you want?” he says. It stops me in my tracks, and the question hits me like a train. Six words, the six words I stopped asking myself so many years ago, because I never had an answer.

He’s put out his second cigarette, and we’re both sitting there, wallowing in the atmosphere.

“This is how my whole life has played out. Fox McCloud, son of James McCloud, top of my class at the Cornerian Flight Academy, hero of the Lylat System… I just don’t know what I’d do without it.” I say, hugging my knees. I can hear him let out an amused humph, and he gets up, walking over to his closet.

“You’re smart. Quick witted, strong, and you can get a job done. You’ll survive without an image. I should know.” he says, grabbing a towel, wrapping it around himself. “You’ve got a meeting in a few hours, right? You should go home and shower.” he says, picking out a change of clothes. It’s a light beige shirt, so I assume he’s covering someone’s shift today. I start buttoning my shirt, and get out of bed, feeling an uncomfortable wetness where I was sitting.

“You should wash your sheets.” I say embarrassedly, picking up my pants and underwear off the floor. Slipping them on, I stretch, and button them slowly. He’s watching me dress, but I find it hard to put on any kind of show for him.

“You have a cute butt.” he chuckles, making me blush slightly.

“And you have a great personality.” I say, poking fun at him. He smirks.

“…I’ll walk you out.” he says hesitantly, and we both leave his room.

We’re at the door, and he has my scarf. I guess he hung it there as we made our way to his bed last night. He wraps it around my neck, in the style that I always wear. It’s always impressive how much attention he pays to smaller details, but it’s expected at this point. We’re both standing there, waiting for someone to move. I don’t think either of us really wants me to go.

“Uh… I guess this is it.” I say with a sad smile. He’s confused.

“What do you mean, this is it?” he asks, but he seems to realize, and his expression becomes more somber.

“I mean… It’s a two-week mission for you, and by then… It’d be in both of our interests to not keep hanging out. Are you still going to take that job with the trading company tomorrow?” I ask him, slightly hopeful. He looks away, and I already know his answer. “N-never mind. Don’t answer that.” I say, my mouth quivering. He notices, and something inside of him breaks.

“Fox, I-“ he says, but I cut him off.

“Bye.” I say, leaving and shutting the door behind me. I walk quickly away, trying to not let any tears of frustration show. I hear an apartment door open behind me, but I don’t look back. It shuts.


	8. Chapter 8

Getting out of bed is really difficult, the day that Wolf’s sentence is up. He probably went to the police station the day before, and went through screening, an exit process, and official clearance. Wolf O’Donnell was now a regular citizen of Corneria, just like the rest of us. It’s almost too bad he was most likely going back to a life of crime. Figures. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I suppose.

…

It’s difficult to joke about.

I don’t have any work that day, so my entire day is free. My hand instinctively reaches for my phone, but I stop halfway, staring at it. I could call Falco, or anyone from Star Fox, hell, maybe even Krystal if I needed someone to hang out with, but I just stare at my phone, my hand still outstretched, reaching for something it didn’t know it wanted. With a sigh, I reach over to my phone and check my notifications.

It’s about 3:30 PM. A follow-up about a Star Fox mission I’d taken on recently regarding payment. Work. I go over to my texts to see if anyone’s tried talking to me. Nothing. Wolf’s name and contact photo is at the top of my recents, staring me down. I turn my phone’s screen off, and place it back where it was. Lying on my back, I watch the ceiling sit there.

I don’t even remember how long I laid there. Could’ve been seconds, minutes, maybe hours. For all I know, it could’ve been days. It felt like an eternity, whatever it was. I had that empty feeling inside of me, the kind of feeling that’s yearning and longing but never reaching. Not having the motivation to get up for anything, because it didn’t feel like anything was worth getting up for, at least not that day.

After eternity passed, I forced myself to get up out of bed. I don’t bother putting on any clothes, considering that being home alone sounded like the only good option. Walking around in my boxers, I went to the kitchen and pulled out a microwaveable burrito from the freezer. Tossing it in the microwave without a care, I let it heat up.

…Wolf. My mind kept coming back to him. We didn’t get to know each other that long, but I looked forward to getting to know him. After I’d gotten over the whole arch-nemesis deal, Wolf became one of the only people I liked being around. He understood. He got me. We were both mercenary pilots who didn’t really feel like doing anything else. Both of us are cocky, a bit headstrong, maybe a little too confident. Me more-so than him, but he understands where it comes from. We’re both gay, so there’s that, too.

In a lot of ways, we complemented each other, while also being able to understand each other due to the way both of our lives have played out. He might have been a criminal, and I might have been the “hero” of the Lylat System, but we both understood what it was like to be known by your name, and not by your character. To really feel the pressures of leadership and societal expectations. He was better at dealing with his image than I was, though. That was for certain.

I wanted to know so much more about him. His life, his dreams, aspirations… What he really wanted his life to look like, 10 years from now. His stupid goals from high school, the long-term goals he’s set for himself now… His favorite music, his favorite types of art, his favorite movie, his favorite everything. To know what makes him smile. His favorite color is purple. I wish that I knew far more than that.

The microwave goes off, and I pull the burrito out. Biting into it without a thought, the insides burn the roof of my mouth, and I let out a yelp.

“FUCK!” I screamed, throwing the burrito at a nearby cabinet. It’s contents splattered everywhere, and I stood there with a burning mouth, a messy kitchen, and an empty feeling that encompassed my entire body.

I head back to bed, not bothering to clean up the mess. A more emotionally well-equipped Fox could handle that next morning.

When I wake back up, I see that it’s pretty late, about an hour before Wolf’s shift ends. Or, rather… When Wolf’s shift would have ended. My stomach is killing me, but I don’t want to repeat the burrito incident of the afternoon. The only thing my body really wants is to go to the Undergrind. Sighing, I get out of bed, and put on the first things that I can find that won’t make me freeze to death.

The walk to the Undergrind is long, and cold. Being out at 2 in the morning isn’t uncommon in Corneria, but in the winter months, most people choose to stay inside their homes. I was walking to a coffee shop, looking for something I knew wouldn’t be there. I would’ve stayed in bed, but you can only sleep so much before you can’t sleep anymore.

The neon sign reading “OPEN” is lit, and it fills me with a sense of familiarity, but sadness. Like visiting a loved one at a graveyard. I walk into the Undergrind, and see Wolf at the cash register, flipping through the book he’s been working on recently.

I almost have a heart attack. He hears me come in with the bell, and our eyes meet.

“H-hey.” I say, my voice slightly cracking. I can tell he notices, because he smirks, but he quickly wipes it off of his face. “How’s the shift been?” I ask.

“Slower than normal.” he says nonchalantly. “Must be something going on somewhere.” he sighs, but I can see the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. He seems relieved that I came in.

“Can’t think of anything.” I respond calmly, but it’s impossible for me to not grin as well.

“Kind of sounds like we orchestrated something, but really, it’s just been a slow day.” he says, finally breaking into a slight chuckle. I let the smile on my face show, and he seems happy to see me smiling.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, but I kind of get the feeling that I know what’s going on with him. He shrugs, and starts making a cup of coffee. He has the sugar and the cream ready, and turns on the hot water. The bag of beans I like is already out on the counter.

“Working. What, you think I’d just quit? I’m this close to a promotion.” he says, putting a small gap between his thumb and his pointer finger. He’s a dork, but he’s a cute dork.

“You know what I mean.” I sigh, watching him pour some beans into the grinder. He turns it on, and I can hear him humming, almost enjoying his work. Shutting it off, he grabs a filter and places it on the coffee pitcher. He pours the grounds into the filter, and grabs some water, pouring it over the grounds in a circular pattern. He did seem close to a promotion.

“Trading company job fell through. I’ll hold off criminality until something else pops up, I guess.” he says, smirking. I’m getting the feeling that he’s lying. “Besides, I finally laid a really cute fox I’ve had my eye on for a month the other night. Trying to see if I can make anything happen with that again.” he admits, and something inside of me flutters. It’s the kind of feeling that rises up inside of you, but doesn’t want to come down, keeping you overjoyed. It’s really, really hard to not cheer out loud right then.

The coffee’s finished seeping through, and he discards the filter. He pours it out into a mug, and then pours the right amount of sugar into it. To top it off, he adds some foam and draws a heart using the cream. He hands the coffee to me, and is giving me a dorky grin.

“You always treat the guys you sleep with like this?” I ask, blushing. I take a sip, and for some reason, this coffee’s better than any that he’s made me before. There’s something else. Can’t really put my finger on it.

“Only the ones I want to keep around.” he says, winking. God, that was dumb, but he’s clearly trying. Almost makes him really smooth.

“Um… Are you free after your shift?” I ask. He checks his watch, and takes off his apron.

“Just got off, actually. Maybe I’ll get off again later.” he says, raising an eyebrow.

“We’re talking about whatever this thing between us is before we do that again.” I chuckle, and he nods.

“I was joking, pup.” he says with a grin, opening the barrier to let me behind the counter. 

He holds it open, and I take this as a cue to walk over to him. Looking around, I can finally see what he sees when he’s making coffee, or taking orders. It shouldn’t be so impressive, but looking around, I’m amazed by how many things he manages while back here. He gets up next to me and leans on the counter by the cash register. I lean next to him, the coffee warming my hands.

“I’m really glad you decided to stay.” I say quietly, taking a sip. He shrugs, and opens a cabinet to grab a rag, wetting it at the nearby sink. He begins wiping things down.

“I’m hoping I didn’t do the wrong thing.” he says, looking back at me with his eyepatch while he cleaned. I can almost see his eye behind it, staring me straight down. “I always imagined chasing you down, but I never really thought it’d be like this. Thought there would be more guns and Arwings involved, but coffee works too, I guess.” he says, chuckling to himself.

“I need you to be honest with me. Are you really staying for me? A one-night stand doesn’t usually lead to a relationship. People like us need to be comfortable with that.” I say, quoting him from the morning before. He stops cleaning, and looks at me.

“Fox, you’re the only guy that I’ve done anything like this for. Maybe it’s our messy history, maybe it was that one night stand, maybe it’s been the previous month of us getting to know each other… I like the way you laugh, and your eyes close slightly. I like the way you drink your coffee with both hands, savoring each and every sip. I like the way you listen to me in a way that no one else really has, really stopping and trying to understand what I’m saying. I really, really like you. And I think you like me. I think we get each other. I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I never tried.” he says, looking right at me. No bullshit; just the pure, and honest truth. “…Will you be honest with me now?” he asks. I nod. “I didn’t make a mistake, did I?”

“Of course you didn’t.” I reply. A smile spreads across his face, the kind of smile that wasn’t for show. The type that creeps on, and refuses to go away. A true, genuine smile. It’s contagious, and I smile in response. “If you’re willing to make a relationship work, so am I.” I say. I see his smile disappear, and he seems slightly worried.

“Uh… I don’t want to force you to do anything, though. We can keep doing this in secret.” he says, seemingly guilty. Right. Still not out. “You have an image to keep up, right?”

I shrug, and his eyes light up.

“I’ll survive. Mercenaries don’t worry about that kind of stuff.” I say, and the smile comes back.

We sit like this for a moment. We can’t tell if it’s the smell of coffee, if it’s the empty café, or if it’s just the emotions we’re both feeling, but the atmosphere is thick with potential. We’re waiting. Waiting to start something, but we sit in the anticipation. 

He walks over to me, and is looking straight into me. His paws hold mine gently, and we’re both looking at each other. A laugh rises from his throat, and the way it comes out makes me laugh too. It’s a laugh that I feel like we’ve been holding in for a long, long time. The way he laughs so heartily, grinning with his teeth bared. Maybe to anyone else, it would’ve seemed intimidating, but it seemed just like the Wolf that I knew. 

Wolf O’Donnell. A space mercenary turned barista. The man who wore multiple faces, showing me his truest one now. My enemy, my rival, my friend. Now, maybe something more.

He leans forward, and we both close our eyes.


	9. Epilogue

Wolf and I never made announcements about our relationship. We never kept it private, but we never made it public either. When friends found out, they were usually supportive; the ones that weren’t just warned Wolf to not hurt me. I told Falco first, and he proceeded to make a few gay jokes at me, but showed a deep acceptance for what I’d chosen, and was supportive of me all the way. Peppy was the most protective over me, but he eventually lightened up on Wolf after seeing how he treated me. He’ll still make jokes about how he won’t hesitate to end Wolf if he winds up doing anything bad to me. At least, I hope he’s joking.

I even got to meet some of the members of Star Wolf, rather, Star Panther, now. After Wolf had told them that he’d given up space crime via e-mail, they barged in on us while we were making out in Wolf’s apartment one night, breaking down the door. I recognized Panther and Leon, but there was a third, a young polar bear with a menacing look that rivaled Wolf’s.  
Wolf immediately told them all off, and they eventually went back to Wolf’s room. There was a pretty long argument between Wolf and his old teammates. The polar bear, whose name was Heath, wound up sitting with me in the living room on the couch while the three of them went at it. I explained to him that Wolf was the previous leader, and stopped pursuing crime to live an honest life and pursue a relationship with me. I asked him why he chose to join Star Wolf, and he told me that he wanted to get rich so that he could provide for his family, which lived in the poorer parts of the Lylat system. He also told me he wanted to prove himself as the greatest mercenary in the Lylat System. I liked Heath.

When the yelling had stopped, the three of them came out with droopy eyes, and the room reeked of weed. Panther then came up to me and embraced me in a hug, and whispered in my ear, “As long as you guys are happy, that’s fine by me.” Leon wasn’t as affectionate, but he clearly had no more complaints. Heath shrugged and wished me the best of luck with my relationship, and told me that he looked forward to shooting me down one day. He reminded me a lot of Wolf in the older days.

After Star Panther knew about our relationship, the entire Lylat System knew about it, which only led to weeks of paparazzi stalking us. We did our best to avoid them, but they were relentless, and we’d both stopped caring anyways. I let my PR team go, to which they adamantly refused, but after showing them that I didn’t really care, they stopped trying. Once the hype had died down, Wolf and I started going out in public together. We’d usually get looks of bewilderment, confusion, but sometimes, polite smiles. We even had a few gay couples come up to us, thanking us for our bravery. We also had a few slurs thrown at us, but it didn’t bother us that much. 

Even with the controversy that surrounded us, I wound up making things work. I still led Star Fox, but we lost a bit of influence in the public eye. Jobs still came in, though, as we still did our jobs well. Pretty soon, we all had a lot more breathing room, not being as famous as before.

Wolf continued to work at the Undergrind, despite all of his skills as a pilot that he’d developed over the years. He told me to not mind it, but I couldn’t help but feel terrible about it. I talked to Star Fox, and they all said they’d be willing to let Wolf onto the team.

When I asked Wolf, he refused, and told me he was retired from flying. This clearly didn’t make any sense to me, and I reacted very similarly to Panther and Leon the first time around. He apparently told me what he told them, in that moment. He said that the risk of dying was too great as a mercenary. That struck me as weird, but I’ll never forget the words he said next.

“Don’t see the point in dying when I’ve found someone who’s worth living for.”

We had some really good sex that night.

Despite this, I continued to work as the leader of Star Fox, and Wolf never really tried to stop me. He didn’t want to force me to do anything, but I could tell he was worried in the way he’d hold onto me as long as possible before I went on missions. Around the six-month mark of our relationship, I had a really close call with a crash landing on Fortuna, and while I was stranded there, the only thing I really thought about was Wolf. I got rescued by him, who volunteered to go in a search party. They got me to a nearby hospital, and while I laid in my hospital bed, Wolf was there with me the entire time. Whenever no one was around, we’d make out, against all the warnings of the nurses.

I understood what he meant by having someone worth living for.

Eventually, I wound up following Wolf, and left Star Fox; albeit, very, very discretely. I let Falco know this, and he proceeded to call me an old geezer, but completely understood what I meant. He made sure to tell me to call the moment Wolf proposed as a joke, but I could see a glint of seriousness in his eyes. Star Fox threw a surprise party for me for my retirement, and Bill, a friend of mine back from childhood and the academy, happened to be there as well. He’d heard of my retiring, but thought that I should stay in the air, for my own sake. That’s when he handed me a job application for a flight instructing position at the Cornerian Flight Academy. He told me that a certain Wolf managed to pull some strings with some visitors at the Undergrind, getting me a very promising interview.

Star Fox survived without me, but Falco, the new leader of the team, never renamed our group. He said he wanted my legacy to live on, and that Star Fox was united by ideals, not by a leader. The public took a lot of time adjusting to it, but eventually, things went back to normal, without me in the picture. I later heard that they somehow managed to pull Heath away from Star Panther, and Heath wound up working with Star Fox instead. I still meet with them regularly to catch up and give advice. Star Panther roped in some other person who was far more in tune with crime.

About a year after all of this happened, I started teaching at the academy, and Wolf moved out of his apartment and moved in with me into my house. Clay eventually met some girl and they moved away for her work, and he left the Undergrind to Wolf, who’s now the manager. We somehow found the good life.

…

“Hey, feel free to take the rest of the night off. I’ll take over for now.” Wolf said to the employee who was wiping down tables.

“That’s fine, Mr. O’Donnell.” the cat said, clearly worried about her pay.

“With pay.” Wolf said, and the cat’s already waved goodbye as the doorbell rings. Wolf chuckled, and he and Fox now had the entire café to themselves.

“You think she’s weirded out that her flight instructor and her boss are dating each other?” Fox asked from the couch. With a sigh, Wolf sat next to him, and brought an arm around him with a kiss.

“Probably.” Wolf said, causing a small chuckle from Fox. “But she’s spirited, and works hard. That’s good enough for me. Besides… it’s been a while since we had this place to ourselves.”

“We literally did this three nights ago.” Fox said.

“Exactly.” Wolf said, pressing his lips to Fox’s. “In any case, I wanted us to be alone for this.”

“For what?” Fox asked.

Wolf went back to the workstation and grabbed a latte for Fox, who’d recently started drinking them. He went back and gave it to Fox on one knee.

“For my gentleman. I call it the Lupine Latte.” Wolf says, smirking. Fox gives him a small laugh, thinking how sappy Wolf could be sometimes. Wolf’s made it with a heart made out of cream, like the first time he made Fox coffee. He drinks, and feels a small object press up against his nose. He stops sipping, and reaches inside the latte, ready to give Wolf a playful scolding for mishandling his coffee.

He pulls out an engagement band.

“Yes, yes, yes, the answer is yes-“ Fox said, barely containing his squealing.

Wolf laughed heartily. “Hey, can I at least say my speech?” Fox reluctantly calmed down, and let Wolf go on.

“…It’s been about a year, but I think I knew about six months in, when you’d crash-landed in Fortuna. That was the most terrifying moment of my life. The moment where I realized that I may have lost you. So… It may be selfish, but Fox McCloud, I think I want to keep you around for the rest of my life. I mean… If you’re alright with that. So… Will you marry me?” Wolf asked. Fox was tapping his foot. “Now you can say yes.” Wolf chuckled, and Fox immediately pulled him in for a kiss.

“Yes.” Fox said, unable to control his smile.

Wolf slipped the band onto Fox’s finger, and turned the neon sign at the window off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was it. Hope you liked it! Sorry if my characterizations of the two are a bit off; it's something I'm trying to work on.
> 
> May or may not post more in the future depending on whether or not people like this, and if I get more comfortable with my own work.


End file.
